Winter… We love to complain about it, but it’s vital to our health and well-being!

Those short days and long nights provide us with the slower rhythm necessary for renewal and growth. Think of how many processes require that extra darkness for their evolution: while they wait for Spring, bears hibernate in deep caves, and plants build up stores of energy underground. We humans are no different. Desire and creative impulse live deep inside of us before they bubble up and demand to be made manifest in the world.

Let’s re-awaken our connection to Nature! Not by running heart first into the bright buzz of Spring, but by staying in the cave a little longer, savoring being rooted to the earth. Let us transition carefully, with intention—the way we do in yoga between poses, or the way we flutter our eyes open after meditation—to hold on to a bit of that rich, fertile Winter power we have been cultivating these last few months.

So how do we do that?

• Revisit your Sankalpa or intention. Does it still resonate with you? Does it need to be refreshed? Maybe your relationship to your Sankalpa is what needs an update. Consider recommitting to it by creating a new ritual around it, or rephrasing it.

• Bring in some slower, more contemplative practices like Yin yoga or Yoga Nidra. These sessions are a great way to sustain and increase your energy reserves without exhausting yourself physically. And Yoga Nidra has the added benefit of supporting and reinforcing your Sankalpa :-)

• Meditation! A few minutes in the morning can be enough to assist you in transitioning from sleep to wakefulness, from Winter lethargy to Spring action.

• Even easier : just go for a walk. Notice the buds on the trees, the flowers beginning to blossom. Stop in a park, sit on a bench and listen to the birds (even if it’s just the dumb pigeons) or children playing. Sit quietly and absorb the noisy chatter of life around you.